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Summary List of stories Phase I Day: Honor, Duty, And Family << chapter 15 Chapter 16 of 75 Clockwork Crocodiles chapter 17 >> << previous scene Scene 1 of 2 next scene >> Location Participants Time Summary Prologue | Phase I | Phase II | Epilogue 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 Text It was difficult for Antares to adjust as the days passed, his wings obviously causing him more than a little discomfort. They helped alleviate this as best they could by massaging them and keeping them warm to loosen up the muscles and tendons, but there simply wasn't a lot they could do. Twilight wrote a letter to Zecora asking if she had any ideas as Luna began to grow frustrated: not with her child, but rather with the fact she couldn't really do anything to help her son, her own flesh-and-blood, and the growing-in wings just seemed to hurt more with each passing day. He cried every now and then from the pain they caused him – most often in the mornings or after long naps – and he couldn't really control them, which meant more than once they had been pinched, crushed, squished, and on one unfortunate occasion burned. It made Luna feel helpless and worthless, while Nightmare Moon only whispered in her mind that a little pain now was worth the gift's benefits later on. Not even Odin could really help, and Luna had almost chased him out of the house when he'd made the mistake of saying that what Nightmare Moon had done was 'interesting;' it made it all the more a relief when finally, after roughly a week of Antares going through worsening pains, a knock came on their door and Scrivener answered it to find Zecora smiling in at them. Zecora was a zebra, talented and well-versed in potions and elixirs of all variety, and while she seemed to prefer her solitary hut outside of Ponyville she could be relied upon to always come through for anypony in need. Golden rings glinted around her neck, bangles on one foreleg and hoops hung from her ears, and her mane was done up in a stiff, checkered black-and-white mohawk, green eyes filled with age and wisdom much greater than her youthful, pretty features would suggest. "Scrivener Blooms, I might be able to help with your son's plight... although I wish I'd known sooner something was not right." "Well, you know me and Luna, Zecora. We really don't like to impose, and you've already done so much for us and Antares. Come on inside." He smiled a little, turning and heading down the hall. "He'll be glad to see you, anyway. Seeing other people seems to take his mind off things... kid's way more social than either me or Luna ever were." "You don't give yourself enough credit in that regard... neither you nor Luna are that socially-awkward." Zecora replied with a slight smile as she stepped out into the den, gazing towards where Antares, Scarlet Sage, and Luna were all sitting comfortably on the floor together with a pile of blocks and some of his other toys. "Scarlet Sage, Luna Brynhild, I'm glad to see you two... and little Antares Mīrus, even though I hear you've been feeling blue." "Cora!" Antares greeted, and then he smiled before picking up his doll, and Zecora's eyes widened in surprise as the infant held it up, declaring: "Gymbr!" "I... what in Equestria is that?" Zecora whispered, and there was silence for a moment before she shook her head weakly as the ponies looked at her with concern, even Antares lowering his doll and looking worried for a moment. "It... I am sorry, I felt my heartbeat go... flat. I... I am sure it is of no concern, merely a passing of a ghost over the grave... conversation until after I help Antares we can save." Luna was frowning worriedly, and Scrivener looked concerned as well even as he gave a wry smile, asking quietly: "So you can feel the vibe from that thing, too?" Zecora didn't seem surprised, glancing over her shoulder and smiling faintly as she said quietly: "I feel something very clear from that alien little doll... and from where I come, and what I've studied, I know a toy that isn't at all. But again, we can talk about it after I have attended to your son... it shouldn't be hard to apply the salve, although far from fun." The sapphire winged unicorn nodded hesitantly, and then she gazed quietly down at her foal as he fidgeted a bit, looking up at Zecora before he glanced over his shoulder when Luna leaned down and said quietly: "I need for thee to be a good boy for me now, alright, Antares? Try not to fidget too much, and this shall all be over shortly. We are going to try and fix these unfair pains thou hast been suffering." "Hurt." Antares agreed quietly after a moment, and Zecora smiled a little as she shrugged off the simple black satchel hanging at her side, opening it and digging out a brown, unlabeled clay jar and a roll of green-tinted cloth bandages. "Now, Antares, this might sting... first we need to stretch out his wing." the zebra instructed gently, and Luna grimaced a little, but then nodded slowly with a sigh, soothingly rubbing a hand along her son's spine and gently holding him in place before her horn glowed, and Antares whimpered and fidgeted as one of his wings took on the same distinct aura and slowly, steadily stretched out to its full span, the foal shivering a little on the ground. "Alright, alright, that should be fine... stay still now, Antares, you're safe in your mother's hooves and mine..." Antares whimpered a bit, clinging to his security toy as Zecora pulled the top off the jar and slid it to the side without needing to ask or be asked, and Scarlet Sage smiled faintly, slipping forwards as Luna murmured soothingly down to her foal and rubbed gently up and down his spine. Scrivener watched for a few moments, then headed into the kitchen to put on tea: when he returned, Zecora had finished covering the wing and the area around the bases of the leathery appendages with the cream and she was already wrapping the leathery wing in the green-tinted cloth, explaining: "This will protect the wings and keep the nerves soothed... try to keep it on for the night before letting it be removed. And I'm sure I don't have to point out the wounds around his back... his body's still trying to reject these wings and deny the attack." "Aye, I know. Does thou know anything about transformation and transfiguration, Zecora? Celestia and I are both concerned that this will last for a long time... that these pains could last until Antares is finally a full adult." Luna said quietly, and Zecora grimaced and shook her head slowly, both in sympathy and in answer to Luna's question. "I wish that I did, Luna of the Night, but I have rarely if ever seen such a plight. Besides, I know your experiences in transformation dwarf my own... the only I ever truly had was when as a shadow I had flown." Zecora hesitated for a moment all the same, then she gently snapped the bandage and bound it down into place, as Antares fidgeted a little before settling with another quiet whimper. "Let's do the other wing, though, and get this over with... then you son can rest and we can discuss a certain myth." Zecora's eyes flicked downwards to the doll half-cradled, half-pinned beneath Antares, and she gave a shiver again before shaking her head hurriedly. Luna frowned a little, but she didn't push, helping keep Antares soothed and holding out his other wing as she had before as Scarlet Sage and Zecora worked to spread salve along it. Antares fidgeted a bit more this time, and his whimpering made Luna's heart ache and Scrivener close his eyes, wishing he could do more as he stayed back and looked quietly down at his son, as Antares whispered every now and then. "Hurt. Hurt." When they were finished and the wing was bandaged, Zecora carefully put a final wrap around Antares' body to cover around the bases of the wings and the cream-covered areas along the foal's back. Then she and Scarlet Sage both excused themselves quietly to wash their hooves off in the kitchen as Scrivener and Luna sat with their son, who looked bleary and uncomfortable, his eyes shimmering a little with tears. He scraped a bit at the bandages across his body, but Luna reached up and gently stopped him, saying softly: "No, they are there to help thee, Antares. My poor little colt..." Antares shifted a bit, his wings flexing behind him beneath the bandages, and then he brushed fussily at the bandages again before whimpering and finally settling. Scrivener and Luna gazed silently at their son as he shifted again, then whimpered quietly and picked at the bandages, and Luna sighed softly as she reached out and gently guided his hoof away, saying softly: "Nay, Antares. They are going to... to make the hurt go away, but they need time to work, alright?" "Hurt." Antares whispered in return, and then he trembled a little before stumbling forwards and quietly burying his face against Scrivener's stomach, pressing into his father as he whimpered a little. "Hurt." Scrivener hugged his son fiercely close up against his body, rocking him slowly in his limbs, and Luna sighed softly as she reached out, then cursed quietly under her breath as she realized she couldn't even rub her child's back with the bandages. Instead, she reached up and gently stroked through his messy white mane, dropping her own face against the side of Scrivener's neck as she whispered inwardly: Nightmare Moon, thou will pay for what thou hast done to my sweet little boy. I promise it. I swear it. For a few moments, there was only silence as they sat together, the only sound Antares' faint whimpers, but gradually those too died slowly down as he quieted and Scrivener looked silently down at the poor child. There were no words for how unfair this was to the poor foal... and father closed his eyes, feeling Luna's anger bubbling through them, mixing with his own fury and a strange, bitter disappointment in Nightmare Moon. Antares quietly began to scramble back and forth as Zecora finally stepped into the archway between kitchen and den, gazing at them softly as she leaned against the wall and said quietly: "I hope you don't mind me being bold, but I figured I would make my tea before it went cold. And now, I know you have questions, Luna of the Night... and I'll try and give you the answers that are within my sight." "About Gymbr... about the doll and the way thou and others have reacted to it." Luna looked quietly down at Antares, who had once more picked up his plush toy and was carrying it quietly back and forth. "Is it something that should worry me, Zecora?" Zecora, however, only smiled faintly at this, replying quietly: "I can say with confidence, Luna my friend... that from the being you call Gymbr you already did defend. In a way, you and Scrivener Blooms stopped him many moons in the past... through the darkness that would have formed him you did both blast. Strange things I do see, as I look around this place... I see flashes of what could have happened, beyond time and space. I see this cottage in ruin and a black castle in its place... I see that we could have been enemies, and I am glad this is not the case." Luna and Scrivener both nodded, looking silently towards Zecora as she gazed down thoughtfully, then turned and sipped slowly at her tea for a moment, visibly gathering her thoughts before she finally looked silently at Antares' doll. "Twins, you see, represent the duality essential to everything... sorrow and happiness, light and dark, autumn and spring. If you want my opinion, no matter how insane it may sound... Gymbr is a piece of a reflection to which we are all invisibly bound. And more than that, he is a corruption of this sacred ideal... he is two pieces made into one, or at least that is how I feel." "He is us." Luna said softly, looking quietly at the doll, and Zecora only nodded silently before Luna glanced up quietly at the zebra, asking slowly: "Does thou truly believe... that just as there are an interminable number of layers of reality... beneath our very hooves, our shadows play out a world of evil so that we may live inside a world of good? And that somehow, this doll, this child's toy, is a manifestation of... of what? Of a piece of that desolate world that never really was, that exists only in the shade of our world... or are we as the sky, an illusion of blue betwixt the cold ground and colder-still space?" "I believe that everything has two distinct sides... that to this one law, everything in the universe abides. And I believe that this is a piece of a world I hope we never see... I know it would not be pleasant for either you or me." Zecora smiled a little. "For different reasons, of course, I must honestly confess... but I don't think either of us would handle such visions without stress. Scrivener Blooms, I'm surprised that you cannot see it too; you've always had a talent for seeing what is true." "Well, blessing or curse, depending on how you look at it..." Scrivener said softly, and then he smiled a little as Zecora stepped aside to let Scarlet Sage slip past, the Pegasus blushing a bit as she carefully set a tray with several cups of tea down. "Thanks, kiddo. But... maybe if I focused on it, knowing what it is, I could see clearer, but... when I spoke to Gymbr before, I did distinctly hear that word in my thoughts. I thought it was... just my own stupid thoughts pulling a random word out for it, but..." Zecora only smiled a little, nodding slowly before Antares quietly held up his toy as he looked towards the group of adults, saying softly: "Gymbr. Gymbr... help." "Help, I am not sure is the word I would use..." Zecora grimaced a bit, looking nervously at the doll before she sighed a little, adding finally as Luna gave her a worried look: "But... your child the toy seems to soothe. This relic, this manifestation of another world's plight... I do not think it's here to spread into your family any blight. Oh, to me it feels malicious, of that there is no doubt... but if it does not feel vicious to you, then there is no need to throw it out." Luna nodded meditatively, and Scrivener hesitated as he looked towards Antares, who was still holding the doll up insistently until Scarlet Sage finally reached out and gently took it, looking down at it quietly. Antares only sat back, looking up at her... and then, finally, Scarlet Sage smiled faintly as she hugged the toy close against her body, closing her eyes and saying softly: "I know you'd never hurt me or Antares." Scrivener and Luna gazed softly at one another, and then they both nodded slowly before Zecora straightened and said quietly: "There's not a lot I can really say to reassure you on this measure... but for now, I think it's safe to let it remain your son's treasure. If it was truly a cursed object it would have done some harm by now, and it does not seem to lash out at even those whom its presence wows." Antares burbled quietly, reaching his front hooves up towards Scarlet, and she looked almost hesitant to part from the doll before she gently passed it back to her little brother, shaking her head out briefly with a small smile. Antares took it with a smile, hugging it close with one hoof as he pawed at her with the other front limb, then he slipped forwards and curled himself against his sister, Scarlet Sage looking down tenderly at him as she began to soothingly rub along his lower back. "It really does seem to help him, though." "Good and evil will always both have their place in the world... again, between dualities, all balance is swirled." Zecora smiled a bit over at Scarlet Sage, and then she shook her head a bit before continuing quietly: "Perhaps we should move on to a subject upon which I can be more help... it seems that at least your son's pains are being soothed by the cream and bandages of kelp." Luna grunted, nodding and smiling a little more herself now as she looked across at the zebra with honest gratitude in her eyes. "And I cannot begin to express my thanks, Zecora. Again, thy expertise has proven to be the saving grace for me and mine where even Celestia and I could not find a solution." Zecora only smiled a little with a modest shake of her head, and the winged unicorn turned her eyes towards her son. "Now, if only thou could provide me with a poison to kill Nightmare Moon... or perhaps some magic elixir to knock her back into dormancy, that would be enough. Then I would go into myself and drag her forcibly out, one way or another." Scrivener smiled a little over at the winged unicorn as Zecora gazed kindly across at Luna, reassuring gently: "You have a dark thing inside you, Luna of the Night... but such a battle with yourself is not won simply with might. Think of all the years that have passed with you keeping your inner demon in her cage, although I know that what she did to your son has filled you with righteous rage. But if anything, your strength of character is proven by how when even Nightmare Moon slipped her leash, she tried to bring a 'kindness' to your son with her dark magic pastiche." "And I would most have preferred that she kept her dark magic pastiche to herself." Luna muttered under her breath, and then she shook her head grimly. "Vicious and sinful monster that she is. I shan't ever forget nor forgive this." "All answers and solutions will come in time, Luna of the Night... for now, show patience, and we'll find the answer to your son's plight." Zecora reassured gently, and Luna sighed and nodded, resting herself against Scrivener Blooms as the male smiled a little, wrapping a foreleg quietly around the winged unicorn as the adults gazed quietly at Antares. The baby burbled softly, his attention focused for now back on his toy... but his bandaged and strange wings were all too clear a reminder that there was much sorrow as well as much joy waiting in the future for the young foal. Category:Transcript Category:Story